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Blackberry Farm Griddle Cakes (Gluten-Free Pancakes)

I fortunately don’t have to worry about gluten-free cooking, but I do often find myself looking with interest at gluten-free recipes. I have quite a collection of flours going and am always curious to find new ways to use them. But for the dabbler stocking all the ingredients necessary for a gluten-free pantry can seem a bit much. If you’re going to use it all the time, a home-made mix that requires you to stock up on ingredients ranging from arrowroot powder to sorghum makes perfect sense (and is hopefully more economical than some of the store-bought varieties though I understand that extra expense is par for the course when things must be free of gluten). But for me, it seems like a lot to buy.

May 2013’s Bon Appetit cover showcases a beautiful stack of pancakes from the famous Blackberry Farm restaurant. I was immediately curious, and only when I read through did I realize the recipe was for gluten-free pancakes. Even better, it “only” required four other varieties–buckwheat (which I have on hand for pancakes anyway); cornmeal (polenta); brown rice flour (which I use for bread proofing) and oat flour (which I bought for the occasion, but which you can make easily from regular oatmeal in the food processor).

With that, this iteration of Sunday morning pancakes. I had actually been wanting to try buckwheat pancakes for a while but was a bit nervous about what my picky eaters would say. So this mix seemed like a good test run, as I knew the oat flour–the largest component–would mellow the buckwheat flavor. A quarter cup of maple syrup didn’t hurt either. The lack of gluten ensured these pancakes were tender and light (an unprompted observation from my husband). And happily they puffed up beautifully as they cooked quickly–a virtue when I’m griddling up as fast as I can for 3 hungry boys.

A few comments. As I mentioned I used polenta which maybe was a bit too coarse a grind for the purpose–my husband liked the slight crunchy texture they provided, but next time I think a finer grind would work better. While the recipe doens’t so require, I found that the batter got thicker after the first batch as it absorbed more liquid, so I’d suggest a five minute rest after the initial mixing.

And one more. I made yet another change from the original recipe–I didn’t add the quarter cup of melted butter. For no reason other than that I misread the recipe. I liked my accidental low-fat version well enough, but as it was not a considered change to the recipe, I also thought it was only right to let you know!

Make your own oat flour by whirring up rolled oats in your food processor. You can make this into a “mix”: Triple the dry ingredients and store them in a jar. Use 2 1/4 cups of “mix”; all the other measurements stay the same.

Whisk buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients, then allow the batter to sit for five minutes.

Heat a large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium heat; lightly brush with butter. Working in batches, pour batter by 1/4-cupfuls into skillet. Cook until bottoms are browned and bubbles form on top of griddle cakes, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until griddle cakes are cooked through, about 2 minutes longer.

6 thoughts on “Blackberry Farm Griddle Cakes (Gluten-Free Pancakes)”

I had wondered what made them so sweet. Ah, it was the maple syrup that was part of the actual recipe. It made them kind of like cookies; you could eat with your hands on the go and not have to worry about a sticky fork.